"Had not acting been forbid seven weeks on the occasion of Prince George's death, and my Lord Chamberlain forbad acting about five weeks before the tenth of July instant; each of these actors would have had twelve weeks salary more than is above-mentioned.
"As to the certainties expressed in this paper, to be paid to the six Actors, the same are positively true: and as to the sums they got over and above such certainties, I believe the same to be true, according to the best of my computation.
"Witness my hand, who am Receiver and Treasurer at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane,
"July 8th, 1709.
"Zachary Baggs."
[ [60] It was opened 18th December, 1714.
[ [61] The Lord Chamberlain's Records enable an exact account to be given of the transactions which led to the formation of this Haymarket Company. After Rich was silenced, his actors petitioned the Lord Chamberlain on three separate occasions, namely, 10th June, 20th June, and 5th July, 1709, and in answer to their petitions, the Haymarket, which was then devoted solely to Opera, was permitted to be used for Plays also. In an Answer to the actors' petitions, the Lord Chamberlain permits the manager of the Haymarket to engage such of them as he wished, and to act Plays four times a week, the other days being devoted to Operas. This License is dated 8th July, 1709. This is, of course, only a formal sanction of the private arrangement mentioned by Cibber ante p. 69; and was resented by Booth and others who were in Rich's favour. They therefore petitioned the Queen direct, in despite of the Lord Chamberlain (see "Dramatic Censor," 1811, col. 112; Genest, ii. 426; Mr. Fitzgerald's "New History," i. 273), but no result followed, until Collier's advent, as is related further on.
[ [62] The description of the shape of the stage which follows is interesting and valuable. In early times the stage was a platform surrounded by the audience, not, as now, a picture framed by the proscenium. This is evident, not only from descriptive allusions, but from the two drawings which have come down to us of the interior of pre-Restoration theatres—De Witt's drawing of the Swan Theatre in 1596, reproduced in Herr Gaedertz's "Zur Kenntniss der altenglischen Bühne" (Bremen, 1888), and the well-known print of the Red Bull Theatre during the Commonwealth, which forms the frontispiece to Kirkman's "The Wits, or Sport upon Sport" (1672). In both of them the pit entirely surrounds the stage on three sides, while the fourth side also contains spectators in boxes placed above the entrance-doors. By gradual modifications the shape of the stage has changed, till now the audience is confined to one side. The doors used for entrances and exits, to which Cibber alludes, have disappeared comparatively recently. They may be seen, for instance, in Cruikshank's plates to Dickens's "Grimaldi."
[ [63] The Haymarket opened on 15th September, 1709, and there was no rival theatre till 23rd November, when Drury Lane opened; but from this latter date till the end of the season both theatres were open.
[ [64] Bellchambers has here the following note:—"The monarch alluded to, I suppose, was Victor Amadeus, King of Sardinia. Carlo Broschi, better known by the name of Farinelli, was born in the dukedom of Modena, in 1705, and suffered emasculation, from an accident, when young. The Spanish king Ferdinand created him a knight of Calatrava, honoured him with his friendship, and added to his fortune. He returned to Italy on his patron's death, and died in 1782."
[ [65] Francesca Cuzzoni and Faustina Bordoni Hasse, whose famous rivalry in 1726 and 1727 is here referred to, were singers of remarkable powers. Cuzzoni's voice was a soprano, her rival's a mezzo-soprano, and while the latter excelled in brilliant execution, the former was supreme in pathetic expression. Dr. Burney ("History of Music," iv. 319) quotes from M. Quantz the statement that so keen was their supporters' party spirit, that when one party began to applaud their favourite, the other party hissed!